The unveiling of our new kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a bit of frustration with our counter-top folks, I can finally post pictures!!! I'm in L-O-V-E with the way it has turned out. Now that the counters and appliances are in we'll have to have our cabinet guy come back to re-cut a few cabinets that are a little bit too long, but these photos will give you a semi-final idea of what it will all look like!
BEFORE:
Prior to the remodel this was the bi-folding pantry... (to the left of the fridge in the photo above) Now it is one of my favorite spaces!! :):) We bought the new propane tank last week and P. will work on getting it all hooked up soon. I love this stove! Can you believe we got it for... FREE?!
Now, I must disclose, that green wall in the next photo refuses to photograph the actual color of green that it is! I'll try some more photos in the daylight next time I can to see if it the color is more true... but for now, it will look like candy-apple green in the pictures. :) Notice our new stools for the breakfast bar? I love them! We're still deciding whether to keep them black or paint them cream like the cabinets... what do you think?
... And finally, a shot from the other side. This photo is in the exact same position as the 'BEFORE' picture in this sequence. What a difference, huh?! Love, love, love.
BEAUTIFUL new faucet and sink. The sink looks tiny in this photo, but actually it's HUGE! It's 39" x 19" x 10". I love the faucet too!
Ain't it all purrrrty?
We went to the airshow yesterday, but I'm pooped and going to call it quits for the night. I'll get some photos up of that adventure soon. :) I've been thinking of everyone wrapping up the last convention at Santee tonight... wish we could have been there. But we're looking forward to visiting Mom and Pops in two weeks! Look out San Diego!

Girl's Night IN! :)

Friday night we had our last Girl's Night with Kristi - she'll be moving back to CO in a few months. Our hubbys and kidlets (for those with such attachments) joined in on the festivities also! We had fondue at K&L's house, then stayed til' the weeeeee hours of the morning watching movies. T'was a delish, fun night! Thanks K&L!
L-R Jo, Tess, Liesl, Me, Kristi & Madison. Lizzy wanted in on the pic... she's a girl too you know!
Sweet pic of Madison and her mama.
Happy trails to Jay & Kristi!

Saturday, Sunday, Workday!

I had some time this weekend to put together some of the pieces of our new kitchen... I found these amazing OXO containers awhile back that make everything SO organized! :) Love them!
And my spice drawer is alphabetized (mostly). Peter thought maybe I was taking things a bit too far, but I think it's just perfect! :-)
Kitty jumped into this bottom drawer as soon as I pulled it out. Perfect size for him! Not to worry, he was immediately ejected (after the photo op of course). :)Have I mentioned that I L.O.V.E. these cabinets?
Peter worked HARD Saturday and Sunday afternoon on the siding on the East side of the house. This photo was taken Saturday evening.
...and this photo was taken Sunday evening. He finished the lap siding and started on the board and batten. Pretty awesome huh?! :)
How was your weekend?!

Happy Momma's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to two very special ladies! We miss you both!!
A sweet quote I found today that echo's my thinking:
Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

A little idea...

Of just what I'm so GIDDY about today!! :):):)
The dishwasher was delivered this morning! :)
Our cabinets are installed... and they are SOOO beautiful! The fridge is in place and working. We have an ice maker and a water dispenser! EEE! The gorgeous double oven and microwave are in place and hooked up. Stove is next - it will go in the empty space below the cabinets on the left of this photo.
Opposite side of the kitchen. The sink will go below the window. It was delivered earlier this week (and it's awesome!) and the faucet was delivered yesterday!
...And finally... the glass cabinets! LOVE, love love! I'm in love with them. Every. Single. Cabinet.
Here's a sneak preview of the marble we chose. The guy comes tomorrow to measure & we should have counters late next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Everything looks amazing already. I'm SOO excited for the "little" details to come together now! I'll post official before and after photos when the sink/dishwasher/counters are in. :)

Cabinets arrived!!!

They're here!
We saved ourselves a $500 delivery charge by renting a $35 UHaul trailer, picking them up, hauling them home and unloading ourselves. :) But these monsters are seriously HEAVY. I'm SOOO glad that we bought custom built cabinets - they are BEAUTIFUL and SO well made!

Tuesday night project ~

This evening P. worked on the steps leading up to the entryway.
He attached the risers to the joists from the back-side~
Close-up of the T-brackets used to hold the Ipe planks in place
Final test of it's strength! (actually we were jumping up and down on it but decided to calm down for a photo) :-)
I'll leave you with a mugshot of our happy faces.
Days always get better after we're home from our "day" jobs! Hope you had a great day too!

Visiting family in Pennsylvania

P. & I took a quick day-trip up to Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon. P.'s cousin lives up in a little town in southern PA with her husband and two little ones. Also, his niece Natalie just moved to Maryland, so she and her bf met us with her little girlies and came as well. We had a blast! It was sooo fun to be with all the little girls!
Myself, J. & K. They are just the sweetest little things. <3<3
Heather (P.'s cousin's) oldest. She's a sweetie, but took a bit of time to warm up to us. I love her big blue eyes!
Miss. J. was having a little trouble being "gentle" while the girls were playing so she paid a visit to the corner. It was all I could do to hold my giggles in. :)
K. & J. with their new dresses!
From L-R, Patti (Heather's Mom), Heather, Baby S. (on her hip), Baby X (in her belly), Natalie & Baby G. (due to arrive in four weeks!)
Miss. H. starting to warm up. :)
Looking forward to our next visit with them! We loved it!

Games n' celebratin'

Miss. Mary from our old Wednesday night bible study celebrated her 11th birthday on Friday night. They were kind enough to let us barge in on the party, munch on their snacks & play some games! It was great fun!
My good friend L. made some amazingly cute and delish brownies.
She also whipped up these toffee bars. Sooo, good.
We all "sang" to the birthday girl on these kazoo's. I'm as good at playing the kazoo as I used to be! (Any of the Ramey/Grow family reading this - do you remember when I tried to play "This land is your land" on the kazoo for a talent show at one of our reunions? - ha... not much has changed!)
P. & I. :)
Fun night of eating, games & lotsa laughs. Thanks for including us!

This is how we roll...

... Or rather, cook. Whatever.
I thought I'd take you on the tour of our current kitchen. It's HUGE. It spans from the entryway to the dining room, up the stairs and around the corner to the bathroom. Quite possibly the largest kitchen I've ever had! Mind you - I'm not complaining, just informing! (and maybe soliciting just a smidgen of sympathy??)
Cooking the last few weeks has been... interesting. Below is a photo of our cooking area right now - a sawhorse with a piece of wood on top. K&L braved the elements (ie: our house) one night & joined us for supper. We had some seriously delicious turkey roast...
...and Mangos - Yes, peeled in the bathroom sink. Which also doubles as the kitchen sink right now. :) Fancy dinner, eh?
Also, here's the latest and greatest dishwashing station. Very mod. HUGE sink. We're working on the garbage disposal tho - I sure miss that guy.
And our coffee stop - the most accessible, organized part of our "kitchen". It's actually right inside the front entryway - but come on, what would you rather be greeted with? A blank, empty, boring wall or our friendly coffee pot & grinder?! :)
Thanks for stopping by our kitchen... SOON it will be much smaller, and I will be oh-so-happy about that! :)

3 weeks in photos ~

I've been a very bad blogger... :( Sorry.
We have a gajillion photos documenting what's been going on around here, but rather than post them all, I'll try to catch you up real quick-like. :)
Last time we spoke, this wall had cabinets on it. Now it doesn't.
(How's that for brief?)
The drywall was in pretty bad shape & was going to require significant patching, so we decided to just cut the worst section out and replace it. (Read: neither P. or myself enjoy drywall work, so we wanted to take the easy route.)
Aaah, muuuuch better. Now there's just seams to cover.
Now is the fun part. Mud, tape, mud, sand. Mud, sand. Mud, sand. Mud, sand. I think my lungs are permanently coated with a thick layer of drywall dust. That and the rest of the house. If you come to visit within the next few weeks, I wouldn't recommend packing any black clothes.
As of tonight, all the walls have a least two coats of mud, some have three, and they are mostly finished!! Yay.
This weekend Peter poured the mini-foundation for the stairs. It's cute. :) Seriously.
Home-made forms work great. :)
Oh, and side note - the car got a bath. MUCH needed.
Tonight P. pulled the forms off and set/nailed the stair framing.
It's lookin' good! We have an install date for the cabinets... drum roll... THIS FRIDAY! That means they'll measure for the counters on Saturday & we'll have a real, live kitchen in two weeks! :):):):) EEEE, oh happy me!

LOVE Craigslist!

We sold all the appliances, except for the dishwasher!!! We decided to wait to sell the dishwasher since the nice stainless one we bought to match our new appliances doesn't work (yet). :) We purchased it broken for a steal & are hoping to get it functioning, but meanwhile we can use the "old" one.

I'm a happy camper! Now, what to buy, what to buy? ;-D

More kitchen demo ~ etc...

Peter finished the flooring in the entryway last week. :) It looks beautiful!
Here's how the kitchen looked this morning - except the oven was still in its place below the microwave & there was a piece of granite on the wall below the far left cabinets. We didn't get the camera out before we started today. :)
Peter taped and mudded the seams on the opposite wall...
...while I emptied cupboards. Notice my "new" spice rack in the background?? Bookcases work marvelously when you don't have cabinets to put things in! :)
Then we tore out the microwave, wall cabinets, lower cabinets and all the granite surrounding. WOW. That granite was HEAVY.
The floor cabinets that used to be next to the oven are now down in the laundry room! Peter's also going to hang the long wall cabinets that he took off the wall today down there. I'm VERY excited about this!!
We were able to salvage all of the granite, so we'll use that in the laundry room too for counters. Don't know what we'll do with the rest of it yet tho! :)
I posted our appliances on Craigslist, so am hoping to get some bites on them & get them out of the garage!
Our new cabinets are scheduled to arrive this week! We may have to push installation out another week as there's still a lot of prep work, but it's SO exciting to see it all coming together. I think we'll be eating out more often than not over the next few weeks! Ugh.
Tomorrow is special meeting in Winchester, so we're looking forward to that. I hope Peter gets to feeling better - he's had a bad sore throat all day... hopefully not a sign of worse to come! :(
G'night friends!